Should gender selection be illegal

I don't know how I feel about this subject, that is why I am wanting to hear your thoughts, I am torn. This is illegal in several countries but not the USA. Google was in some hot water recently in India for allowing ads for clinics in the USA that allow gender selection

I can see this as an issue in India where in some places the male to female population is much higher due to female infanticide or selective abortions (even though a dr is not supposed to tell you the sex of your fetus in India, it still happens). However, in America most parents are picking girls when it comes to gender selection

I guess I can sorta get behind gender selection because there are genetic diseases that are gender related and for the parents wanting to use it for that purpose I can see it preventing some heartache. However, I kind of see this as almost on the same level as infanticide. Should gender selection be legal or illegal?

I don't know how I feel about this subject, that is why I am wanting to hear your thoughts, I am torn. This is illegal in several countries but not the USA. Google was in some hot water recently in India for allowing ads for clinics in the USA that allow gender selection

I can see this as an issue in India where in some places the male to female population is much higher due to female infanticide or selective abortions (even though a dr is not supposed to tell you the sex of your fetus in India, it still happens). However, in America most parents are picking girls when it comes to gender selection

I guess I can sorta get behind gender selection because there are genetic diseases that are gender related and for the parents wanting to use it for that purpose I can see it preventing some heartache. However, I kind of see this as almost on the same level as infanticide. Should gender selection be legal or illegal?

Yeah, it's kind of heartbreaking. There are countries in which women are so devalued, that a mother would terminate based solely on sex. But instead of outlawing the practice, one should examine why the practice occurs at all. In rural India, Pakistan, China etc for example, many girls still go uneducated and are in slightly better regard than farm animals. They have arranged or semi-arranged marriages. Many marriages require a dowry that the brides family must pay. This cost can be overwhelming. After a daughter marries, she now belongs to her in laws. In order to have someone take care of you in your old age, you need a daughter-in-law (and thus a son). All of those things keep sons as the preferred gender. Then there is this: women in certain cultures have very limited rights. They receive scant education or job training. The rates of domestic abuse and sexual assault are quite high. There are honor killings and flagrant disregard for women's innate humanity. So perhaps a woman chooses to terminate her female fetus because it will make her life even harder and poorer. Or maybe she terminates to spare her daughter the injustices of the patriarchy she will be born into. I don't know, I'm just rambling. I think, though, that instead of canning women's reproductive rights even more, governments should instead focus on ways of making women's lives more fulfilling, meaningful, safe, and by securing economic equality. If mothers felt that both they and their daughters would have good lives , then sex selective abortion would fall by the wayside.

Yeah, it's kind of heartbreaking. There are countries in which women are so devalued, that a mother would terminate based solely on sex. But instead of outlawing the practice, one should examine why the practice occurs at all. In rural India, Pakistan, China etc for example, many girls still go uneducated and are in slightly better regard than farm animals. They have arranged or semi-arranged marriages. Many marriages require a dowry that the brides family must pay. This cost can be overwhelming. After a daughter marries, she now belongs to her in laws. In order to have someone take care of you in your old age, you need a daughter-in-law (and thus a son). All of those things keep sons as the preferred gender. Then there is this: women in certain cultures have very limited rights. They receive scant education or job training. The rates of domestic abuse and sexual assault are quite high. There are honor killings and flagrant disregard for women's innate humanity. So perhaps a woman chooses to terminate her female fetus because it will make her life even harder and poorer. Or maybe she terminates to spare her daughter the injustices of the patriarchy she will be born into. I don't know, I'm just rambling. I think, though, that instead of canning women's reproductive rights even more, governments should instead focus on ways of making women's lives more fulfilling, meaningful, safe, and by securing economic equality. If mothers felt that both they and their daughters would have good lives , then sex selective abortion would fall by the wayside.

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